John stephenson



(No Model.)

J STEPHENSON GAR TRACK BRAKE HOUSING. Y

Patented May 14, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN STEPHENSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CAR-TRACK-BRAKE HOUSING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,300, dated May 14,1889'.

Application ilecl July 20, 1888. Serial No. 280,512. (No model.)

To all whom it 11mg/ concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN STEPHENsoN,a citizen of the United States,residing` at New York, in the county and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Track-BrakeHousings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactspeciiication.

My invention is a housing for car trackbrakes constructed as fully setforth hereinafter, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan of part of a car-truck frame showing` myinvention. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a transversesection.

Necessity for car track-brakes on tramways having inclined planes is nowestablished. Efforts in such constructions have been unsatisfactory, andin many cases of but little use. The service of the track-brake issevere, because the shoes should carry nearly the entire weight of thecar and its load moved at a rapid rate and with almost irresistibleforce by the cable. The shoe is eX- posed to obstructions from badjoints of the rails, especially at turn-outs, curves, and crossings, andalso from uprising pavements in times of frost. These cause derangementof the parts of the brake mechanism the more easily because of thevaried location of those parts as attached to different pieces andplaces of the carriage part or truck, and also the car-body.

My purpose is to group the mechanism of the track-brake at each side ofthe car-body in a housing or receptacle, affording solidity andstrength, as also permanence of location to the parts, while affordingbetter protection for the mechanism, with readiness of access andfacility for repairs. For this accomplishment I make a housing, 101, ofmetal, consisting of a rigid frame having a vertical wallplate, 102, anda horizontal head or ceiling plate, 103, of proper form and dimensions,adapted to the car truck or carriage part at one side of the car towhich it is to be fastened. The lower edge of the vertical housing-platehas a ledge, 104, shooting under the truck-sill 5, to prevent the platefrom beingl forced upward when the weight of the car is on the shoe 100.This vertical plate has also two channel-ways constituting guides 105for receiving the two vertical or uprising members 90 of the track-shoeto guide the shoe in its vertical motion, and also preserve the shoefrom being forced from its position. Near the upper part of the verticalplates are socketed steps 106, fitting to the end journals of the twinrock-shafts 57, whichhave their other ends journaled in bearings 107 atthe verge of the housing head-plate 103. The twin rockshafts have theirarms connected with the track-shoe by articulated bars, which lift anddepress the track-shoe at will of the operator and intensify the forceof pressure upon the shoe as arms and bars approximate astraight line.An articulated bar unites the arms of the twin rock-shafts, and othertwo arms of the rock-shafts connected witlrthe shoe by articulated bars.On the verge of the headplate is a projection, 68, of size and formadapted to limit the motion of the rock-shaft and prevent its arm withthe articulated bar from makinga straight line, and thus hinder therecoil of the brake. An extended arm, 61, of the rock-shaft has anarticulated rod, 62, through which the energy of the operator isconducted to the brake. The vertical plate and the ceiling-plate haveholes to receive the bolts 109, by which or other known method thehousing may be fastened to the car-truck. Thus the complete mechanism ofthe brake is housed and in condition to be attached to to or removedfrom a car as need requires.

l do not here claim the construction of the brake-shoe and itsconnections, as the same constitutes the subject of separateapplications for Letters Patent, Serial Nos. 280,510 and 280,511.

I claim- 1. A track-brake housing consisting of a rigid frame secured tothe car truck or carriage at one side of the car and constructed withbearings for horizontal rock-shafts, and with vertical guides to supportthe working parts of the car track-brake, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

2. A track-brake housing having vertical guides adapted to verticalmembers of the track-shoe to control the motion thereof, and with avertical Wall With sockets or bearings for the ends of horizontalrock-shafts, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A track-brake housing having at the under side of its head-plate oneor more roclc shaft journal-bearings for horizontal rockshafts,substantially as and for the purpose described.

4:. A track-brake housing with bearings for twin rock-shafts having armswith articulated bars coupled tothe shoe, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

5. A track-brake housing having bearings for a rock-shaft, and having astop adapted Vto limit the revolution of the rock-shaft, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

`6. A track-brakehousing supporting a rockshaft united to the brake-shoeby an articulated bar, and an arm of the rock-shaft with an articulatedbar connected with the handlever and adapted to convey the energy of theoperator to the brake mechanism, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

7 A track-brake housing supporting a tra-cle shoe with two articulatedbars connecting the shoe With twin rock-shafts united by an articulatedbar, and each rock-shaft having its two journals in bearings in thehousing-Walls, one of the rocleshaft arms connected with a rod capableof conducting the energy of the brake-operator to the track-shoe,substantially as and i'or the purpose described.

8. A track-brake housing With shaft-bearings and guides holding inassemblage the mechanism of a brake and constructed for attachment tothe car, substantially as and for the purpose described.

9. A track-brake housing having on its rear Wall guides for verticalmembers of the trackshoe, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence 0E two subscribing Witnesses.

Witnesses:

CHARLEs E. Fos'rnu, STUART A. STnri-rnNsoN.

